Update Sept 2016: rewrote the Kairi scene at the end

Chapter 124: Lies

Sun.

Bright.

He winced.

He could feel his face stinging.

Running.

Sand.

Sand.

Quicksand.

Sinking.

Kairi.

He could see her.

He was reaching out to her, shouting—

Laughter.

Cold, cruel, cackling.

He would've shuddered, but he could not move. He was only sinking faster—

Darkness.

Surrounding him.

Crushing him.

His vision blurred, but he was aware of the bandages that covered one of his eyes. His other eye was—

Wet with tears?

Laughter.

But it was him.

Laughing.

Grinning.

Enjoying.

He had his blade in Riku's chest, and he could feel blood. It was soaking his side, running down his face, staining his hands—

Monster.

Growling, frightening, wolf-like Nightmare.

Cringing.

Hiding.

Mickey—no.

Kairi.

Screaming.

Pleading.

But no words would leave his lips—

Only laughter.

That cold, cruel, cackling laughter.

xxx

He woke up in a sweat.

Kairi.

He could… he could remember—

Something about… something about- about a second—

It was gone.

He groaned, and then reached up to touch his face; his stinging scar. It was going to take some getting used to. Though, maybe once it stopped hurting, he'd forget about it? He wasn't sure if that was comforting.

Really, though, he was just putting off sitting up and looking at the rest of his surroundings.

He opened his eyes. That was a start. Familiar, dark purple brick came into view, parts of a ceiling he thought he recognized. The giant hole in it was new, though. Very new.

And, from everything else in the room, and the general feel of the bed, this was…

This was where he'd stayed, all those months ago, when he'd been willingly staying with Maleficent. Boy, was it a mess.

"So you're finally awake?"

Maleficent's voice.

Sora hastily scrambled to be standing, stumbling slightly as he did so. His thoughts were fuzzy and his body wasn't moving quite like he wanted it to. He worked the most menacing glare he could onto his face, though.

"What do you want with me?"

His voice was shaky; it sounded so weak.

If there was anything he didn't want to be right now, it was weak.

Though, really, he just didn't want to be here.

"Don't be silly, child," Maleficent replied, coolly, a hint of laughter in her voice. "You're the one who wants me."

Sora stared.

"Uhm… no." He laughed at the absurdity of that thought. "No I don't. If I did, I would've come looking for you. And, as I recall, you're the one who kidnapped me!"

Maleficent raised her eyebrows. "And if I told you that I did not 'kidnap' you, as you so claim?"

"Of course you did!" Sora practically shouted in his frustration. "First you chased me across like twenty different worlds, then in Agrabah you came out of freaking nowhere and you grabbed me, and I was screaming but no sound left my mouth. I remember that very clearly, and it will probably haunt my nightmares for the rest of my life."

"And what were you doing before that?"

"I was…" Sora paused, horror flooding through him. He couldn't remember. "H-hiding." His certainty faltered. "Wasn't I?"

Maleficent slowly smiled.

"Hiding from…" He continued, slowly; trying to piece the memory back together in his head. "From… Kai- no. I-" He clutched his head. "I was… Aladdin found me. There was a sandstorm, he took me to shelter, then he got mad," Sora muttered to himself, remembering what Riku had told him last time he was having trouble remembering things. "I went and bought potions. That shopkeeper let me hide in his stall, while- while… uhm…"

He couldn't remember. He couldn't remember who he had been hiding from.

Why couldn't he remember?

Why was his memory so dark?

"You were hiding from your pursuers."

Sora looked up at her, surprised. "I… I was?"

Everything was clicking back together in his head.

That made perfect sense.

But…

He frowned then, skeptical.

"Who was after me?"

"I do not know." She sounded legitimately sorry about it. But why would she be sorry? "But it was probably whoever tried to 'kidnap' you from Hollow Bastion."

Something felt wrong in his head.

This couldn't be right…

"But- but you kidnapped me!"

"I merely took you away before they could find you," Maleficent explained, calmly. "I saved you."

Of course.

What had he been thinking?

Still…

"Well, you scared the crud out of me doing it!" Sora said, not bothering to hide the annoyance in his voice. "Next time, you should—" He froze. Something wasn't right. "Wait a minute. What am I saying!?" Anger flooded through him now, most of it at himself. "I may not remember who I was hiding from in Agrabah, but I'm positive it's you I need to be running from now!"

He fished his star shard out of his pocket and was about to activate it when—

It practically exploded in his hands.

He dropped it, shocked. It clattered to the ground and skidded a couple of feet. It was smoking with darkness, and sparking slightly. He rushed over to it and picked it up, though it stung his fingers slightly. He tried to activate it, but all it did was fill his ears with a buzzing that soon became an unbearable whine that didn't stop until he dropped it. He stared at it in disbelief before turning to glare at Maleficent again.

"What did you do that for!?" he demanded, furious. "That only further proves you kidnapped me—"

"They're tracking it."

"—I mean, obviously, you don't want me—" He stopped, brain finally processing what she had said. "What?"

"They're tracking it," she repeated. "How else do you think that they found you in Agrabah?"

"I- I don't-"

Panic—no, terror – was flooding through him.

What was he supposed to do now?

He could feel his thoughts clouding again.

"It would be safer for you if you stayed here," Maleficent told him. And to his utter horror, he found himself believing her. "They won't be able to find you here, or, really, so long as you are with me."

Terrified, his brain telling him one thing and his heart another, unsure of which to believe, and not really having another option, all he could reply was: "O-okay."

xxx

"Find him?" the shopkeeper asked as Tifa and Kairi passed by his stall again.

"We… hoped he was with you…" Tifa replied.

The shopkeeper shook his head.

Actually, Kairi knew he was gone, but she hadn't had the energy to argue with Tifa. She was so stupid! Just because she'd been too scared, she'd moved away from where she'd known Sora to be, and if she'd just confronted him then, instead of waiting, then maybe—

Then maybe…

"I don't know why you're looking for him," the shopkeeper said, drawing her attention to him. "And I don't know why he's running. But I do know that you can find him."

She wanted to believe him.

She did.

"You have faith in him," the shopkeeper continued. "And your faith will bring him to you. Trust me. You will find him."

Kairi nodded, unable to make herself do much more, and started off. She could hear Tifa say a quick thank you behind her, but she found it hard to care. She just kept walking.

There was your chance, and you blew it!

Now you'll probably never see him again.

Ugh! Why was he—

"Kairi!"

Tifa grabbed her by the shoulders, bringing her to a stop. Kairi turned sharply against her, yanking herself out of Tifa's grasp. She didn't move away, though.

"Listen, Kairi, I know you're upset. That could have gone a lot better, yeah, but- we will find him. There are only so many worlds out there. Eventually we will run into him again. We just have to keep moving!"

Kairi took a deep breath. She felt tears burning in her eyes, and she hated it.

"I- I need to be alone."

She heard herself say it, but they did not feel like her words.

They felt too distant to have come from her mouth…

And before she knew what she was doing, she was running.

Three minutes and a very confusing route later found Kairi sitting on top of a building in some abandoned area much like the one they had been looking for Sora in earlier. She had her knees drawn tightly to her chest and her face buried in them, crying ugly tears.

She'd been so sure going with Tifa would be a good idea, the right idea.

And, maybe she'd been right! They'd certainly run into Sora very quickly.

But then she'd gone and messed it up.

She'd messed it up, and now Sora was gone, and—

A rather large force came out of nowhere and knocked her to the ground. Yelping, Kairi tried kicking at it, but… It was a wolf, and it was at least the size of her, and it had her very firmly pinned. A wolf? Since when did wolves this color live in the desert? Since when did wolves live in the desert at all?

"Get off, get off!" Kairi screeched, trying to hit it. If it was going to eat her, then she was going to at least go out fighting.

"What the hell do you think you're doing!?" came another voice—a voice Kairi recognized.

Kairi didn't see anyone—not that she'd expected to—but someone definitely tackled the wolf off of her and wrestled it to the ground. The wolf didn't seem happy, and snapped a few times at whoever was there, before letting out a short series of barks. Apparently they meant something, because her invisible savior replied:

"Yeah, I know she is! But that doesn't mean you have to—OWW!"

It looked like the wolf had gotten him, if his howls of pain and string of curses were anything to go by.

Then… something happened. There was a flash of power that made her hair stand on end and her skin itch, a blur of motion, and then the wolf was quite a few feet away from where it had currently been, whimpering a little. Kairi wasn't sure if she should feel sorry for it or not.

"Stupid sack of bricks," said her friend, Invisi-guy (at least until she learned his name), as presumably he glared over at the wolf. Kairi got that feeling. She watched the sand shift under his weight, then his footprints as he came closer to her. "Uh, sorry about that," he apologized, sounding nervous.

"That your wolf?" Kairi asked, eyebrows raised high.

"Uh, haha," and again he went, with that nervous laughter. "I mean, yeah. I got it recently—supposed to be a magic tracking wolf, but it hasn't found the thing I wanted it to find yet, and has been nothing but an absolute pain in my- my neck since I got it." His nervousness quickly became a sharp irritation.

The wolf, who'd made itself comfortable lying on the ground now, looked smug.

"What do you need a tracking wolf for?" Kairi asked, highly intrigued. This was the juiciest thing she'd learned about him since meeting him.

(As far as thoughts of Sora went, Kairi was pushing them aside. Her invisible friend showing up was certainly a welcome distraction, regardless of nearly getting killed by his new uncooperative wolf pet.)

"Uhh…." He drew the sound out, like he was trying to think. "I mean, I'm trying to find someone, so. That's why."

"Find who?" Kairi tried, though she expected a similarly dodgy answer. She leaned a little towards the direction she thought he was standing in. "Is it related to you being invisible?"

"No!"

"Oh." Kairi leaned back, sighing. "One day I'll get that out of you."

"Yeah, sure."

Kairi thought about maybe apologizing for not being there to see him for the past week, basically, but she didn't get the chance.

"So… what brings you off the islands?" he asked

"I'm looking for Sora," Kairi answered. That pit settled into her stomach again, that knot of anxiety over everything that had just happened.

"O- oh!" Her friend sounded legitimately surprised? His voice was tight, too.

"Well, the opportunity presented itself, so I took it," Kairi continued, feeling he would want the explanation. "Thought it'd be better than sitting around on my butt. I think- I think maybe I would have gone sooner, if I'd had a way to." But she hadn't had a way off the islands, and, she probably wouldn't have gone without Tifa either.

"Any luck finding him?" There was a strange note in the boy's voice, like this question was a joke, and he knew the answer.

Kairi swallowed. No reason to say anything but the truth.

"I mean… technically…" she said.

"Wait, what!?"

She didn't understand his surprise, and sent a confused glance in his general direction. She didn't have the energy to pry about his response, though. Talking to him was the most therapeutic thing she'd known in a long time, so, resting her chin on her knees, she continued:

"Well, he was here," she said. "He was… right within my reach. And I let him go! I let him run off, and now he's gone." A heaviness weighed in her. She knew that it had been the darkness tricking her, in the past, but she almost missed the weightlessness it had granted her. Not having to care sure had been a nice luxury.

"He's gone?" her invisible friend repeated, fixated on that, of all things.

Kairi nodded.

"Yeah. That's what I said, isn't it?"

"I…" But he stopped there, making a noise quite like a stifled scream.

"What?" Kairi asked, laughing at the absurdity of this. He didn't know Sora! Why would he care?

"That… That just, sucks…. For you…." He said, very slowly, drawing out all the words like it was an effort to say them. Weird?

If Kairi could see him, she'd be studying him carefully. As it were, she was studying the air where she thought he was standing very carefully instead. Not being able to see the face he was making or any of his body language sure was frustrating, sometimes, especially times like right now.

"Come on," she said, scowling. "There's gotta be more to it than that. You aren't fooling me."

He sighed very heavily.

"I just… feel your pain…" he said, and this time it was sincere, the only hesitation seeming to be out of exhaustion.

Kairi scowled a moment more, and then she remembered. "Oh, yeah. You said you were looking for someone too, huh?"

"Yeah…"

His footprints moved, there was a shift in the air beside her, and then with a plop he sat down next to her. She couldn't see the droop of his shoulders, nor the way he leaned his hand against his face, but she could hear how tired he was.

"Haven't had any luck finding them?" Kairi asked.

"Mmhmm." The boy sighed. Seemed to think a moment, before he spoke again. "He's a… friend, of mine. Well. It's complicated."

"As complicated as the reason you're invisible?" Kairi ventured, a teasing note in her voice. She was just trying to lighten the mood, maybe make him laugh.

"Oh yes," he answered. He sounded completely sincere. "It's…" he began, but stopped. He was silent for a long moment before he tried again. "We're…" He hesitated here, again, but for a shorter time. "There's this… connection, between us," he said. "It's… complicated. A- A magic thing. It lets us hear each other's thoughts. And, for as long as I've known, he's always been there, in the back of my head. But now…" There was a catch in his voice. "I can't even feel him."

If Kairi could see him, she might have reached out and squeezed his shoulder comfortingly.

"I'm… I'm sorry," she said, unsure of what else to say. She didn't understand this, really, not any more than she understood the connection Namine apparently had with Riku.

"It's not your fault," he told her. "I'm- I'm just-" He seemed to struggle with the words, and Kairi could hear his shallow breathing, like just saying this was a physical toll on him. "I'm… terrified."

Kairi's mind flickered back, Namine's quiet voice playing in her head. They'd been watching Leon and Aerith work on Riku. "I can't feel him," she'd whispered, and the terror in her voice had been like a tangible thing.

"Do… Do you think he's dead?" she asked the boy beside her, cautiously.

He seemed to consider it for a moment, but not for very long.

"No. I think it's worse than that."

Kairi raised her eyebrows. Worse?

"Someone's blocking our connection," he said, with certainty, but also with a heavy dread. "That… That shouldn't be possible. So if- If they're blocking the connection, they're very powerful. And if I… If I have to fight them to get- to get him back…"

Kairi considered this a moment, considered him a moment, trying to judge exactly where he was sitting. Then she decided to just go for it.

She reached over and slapped him on the back. Or, where she thought his back should be. It sure felt like his back. He let out an 'oof!' of air, either because she'd hit him harder than she'd meant (possible), or likely just because he hadn't been expecting it.

"You can do it," she told him, smiling at him.

He laughed once, sharply, in disbelief.

"I mean it," Kairi pressed. "You'll find him. I know you will. And everything will be okay."

"Y- yeah." He laughed again, but now it was a series of nervous, desperate laughs. Kairi couldn't blame him. If this was what he was going through, it was no wonder he was so nervous all the time.

"Here…"

Kairi held a hand out to him, pinky extended.

"Huh?"

"You know how pinky promises work, right?" Kairi asked.

"I mean-"

"Well, let's promise," she said. "Promise that we'll both find who we're looking for—or at least that we'll try our hardest. Because we know there's someone else out there trying their hardest too."

"I…" he began, but didn't finish, and otherwise didn't respond.

Kairi leaned forward a little, shaking her pinky. "Come on," she laughed. "You're gonna have to help me out a little here."

"Oh."

It took him a second, but then his pinky found hers.

Kairi grinned.

"I- I need to go," her friend said, rather abruptly, and the sand shifted like he was pulling away, scrambling to his feet. "I. I need to. Um." There was a shift in the air and a small implosion of sand, something Kairi recognized, and then he was gone.

His wolf perked up its head, and then after getting to its feet and shaking itself off, it was gone too. There one second, gone the next.

"Well… that was weird," Kairi said aloud, wondering what the heck that had been about. He'd never vanished quite that suddenly in the past before.

"Kairi?" came Tifa's voice, before Kairi could contemplate it any longer.

Kairi leaned forward, spotting Tifa walking through the street below. It had probably been enough time.

"Up here!" Kairi called, waving. She waited until Tifa'd spotted her, and then she clambered down off the roof.

"Well, you're looking a lot better," Tifa remarked. She looked pleasantly surprised.

Kairi grinned.

"I feel a lot better," she said, wiggling her pinky.

Everything was going to be okay.

They'd promised.